Shaken, Not Stirred
by Tyrne J
Summary: Written for Pervasive Threnody's Summer Detour Challenge. Goku walks in on something one night, and now he has to deal.


Title: Shaken, Not Stirred  
By: Tyrne J  
Series: Gensoumaden Saiyuki  
Disclaimer: Written by a fan, for fans only. GMS belongs to the ever-cool Kazuya Minekura, and I wouldn't have it any other way. As long as I get to write fanfic, it's all cool.  
Notes: Written for Pervasive Threnody's Summer Detour Challenge. And boy, was it a challenge. It's been a really long time since I've done first person. And there is a summer theme there, somewhere.]

* * *

If anyone asked me what I thought of our relationship – us four guys in a Jeep in the middle of nowhere, going somewhere, maybe nowhere – I think I would've said that we were just a bunch of friends. Really good friends.  
  
Well, at least, I would've said that yesterday.  
  
Today, though…  
  
I don't know what I'd say.  
  
And now I don't know what to do.  
  
"It's pretty quiet today," Sanzo commented, without turning his head. I could see the back of it, and beyond that, the tiny print of his newspaper. We were bouncing over some pretty rocky ground, so even if I were interested in reading over his shoulder, it was hard to concentrate on the words, anyway.  
  
"Maybe they're sleeping, Sanzo," offered Hakkai. He was staring ahead at the road, so he didn't know I was wide awake in the back of the Jeep.  
  
Or maybe he knew. I dunno. Seems like him, though.  
  
Gojyo was definitely awake. I think he's staring at me. Or, he was, the last time I checked.  
  
I really, really wish I could read the newspaper over Sanzo's shoulder, now. He'd kill me, though.   
  
Aw, man. AW, MAN!  
  
"Is something wrong, Goku?" Hakkai looked concerned as he glanced back at me, and beside me, I heard Gojyo cough. I worked my mouth a couple of times, while Hakkai continued to keep glancing back at me for an answer.  
  
How the hell can he act like that? It's Hakkai, I know, but just – after last night, and – AND THIS!  
  
Now Sanzo looked up – I could see his head shift as it bobbed up and down with the Jeep. "What is it, monkey?"  
  
"Nothing- Nothing! I – I'm just hungry, that's all!"   
  
Gojyo laughed, and for some reason, it made me jump. "You and your stomach, stupid ape. Didn't you have breakfast an hour ago?"  
  
Stupid ape! "Well, I would've had breakfast, if someone hadn't stolen it from me while I was in the bathroom!"  
  
"Your loss. Lunch isn't for another three hours, anyway, so ya gotta live with it."  
  
"You damn – "  
  
"Now, now…" Hakkai started, but I can't listen to him now – if I did, I think I'd –   
  
"Perverted kappa! I'm taking your share of lunch, then!"  
  
"Oh?" The smile on Gojyo's face – those chills down my spine –   
  
Can't think on it – can't –   
  
"YEAH!"  
  
"Dammit, you two! It's too early for this!" Sanzo hit me in the head, and waved his gun at Gojyo.  
  
And so it went for the rest of the morning. And I think I've calmed down since then, but still –   
  
So what are we today?  
  
"Where're Hakkai and Gojyo?" Sanzo asked during lunch. We'd stopped by a village for it, since we needed to get –   
  
"They're going shopping for supplies." This place had some really great meat stew and crunchy breadsticks. I think on the way back, I'll ask Sanzo to stop by here again.  
  
"Hope they're getting cigarettes." Meaning Sanzo's cigarettes – he hates Gojyo's for some reason. They're picky like that.  
  
Personally, I don't see what's so great about them. They don't taste very good, and Hakkai said they were addictive. Who would get addicted over something that didn't taste good?   
  
Exactly.  
  
Sanzo and Gojyo are my friends, but they're really weird, sometimes.   
  
But Gojyo… and Hakkai…  
  
"Not like you to not swallow once you've started."  
  
I blinked. Sanzo's comment was accompanied by a quirk of an eyebrow, and his usual scowl.  
  
"If you have something to say…"  
  
Maybe I can talk to Sanzo about this. I opened my mouth to speak.  
  
"SWALLOW FIRST!" Gah! Fine, fine!  
  
Gulp. "Hey, Sanzo – "  
  
"I'm already listening, you idiot."  
  
Oh, yeah. "Hey, um, I have a question."  
  
"It'd better not be something stupid."   
  
"It's not stupid!" Man, why does everyone have to ask that? I mean, even Hakkai has that look in his eyes whenever I – "It's just that – it's hard to ask – "  
  
"Oi! We're back!"  
  
"Good afternoon, everyone! Enjoy lunch?"  
  
Great timing. Mannnn…  
  
Gojyo shoved his face up to mine, and grinned that annoying grin of his. "Betcha we ate at a better place at the market."  
  
"Oh, yeah?" I grabbed the last breadstick on the table and shoved the whole thing in my mouth. "Mrrph mevagh whoa wha woo miggfffr hreer!" It was supposed to be "You'll never know what you missed here!", but the bread got in the way.  
  
I know what I meant, and that's all that matters.  
  
"I heard that in the next town, they'll be holding a big festival. Gojyo and I were thinking stopping by there for the night would be a nice change." Hakkai was taking on his persuasive tone – Man, I love it when he does that, especially when it comes to trying to convince Sanzo that it'd be nice to slack off for a change…  
  
"Hn."  
  
Aha, aha! I've known Sanzo for a while now – he is definitely starting to crumble.  
  
"We'll see."  
  
'We'll see.' Yeah, you got'im, Hakkai. Lookout, festival-for-whatever-holiday-it-is! We're comin' to town!  
  
Annnd, there went the afternoon. Oh, man. A festival!   
  
So I forgot about last night, so what?  
  
They had fireworks, man. Fire. Works.  
  
We ended up on a cliff a few miles out of town, hanging out with Jeep with a few of the festival's cool bubbly drinks and little drippy sweet things on sticks. The view was great this way, and since no one else could really travel that far out of town just to sit on some secluded cliff, we had enough space to have our own picnic.  
  
Wow. I didn't know they made those things with three colors.  
  
Sitting in the back of Jeep watching the glowing lightshow, I finally remembered what happened the night before, back when everything seemed perfectly normal.  
  
And still, I feel this involuntary chill go down my spine.  
  
They're a few feet away, on the grass next to Jeep. Talking.  
  
Really, really close.  
  
But they're used to it, right? I mean, they lived together. What's wrong with that? With – With –   
  
That kind of physical contact?  
  
I – I think… Wow, those green ones go really far up there.   
  
Yeah, this is safer.  
  
"Damned… shit, it's dripping all over the…" I could hear Sanzo muttering behind me, rummaging in the bags. "Goku!"  
  
"Yeah?" I was greeted with something colored on a stick – couldn't tell what color, though; it was too dark. It smelled sweet, and I could feel the air around it grow cold for a moment.  
  
"This thing was getting all over my books. Get rid of it."   
  
Smelled tasty. And it was dripping all over Sanzo's hand.  
  
Well, not for long. It's all over my hand, now. Slurrp.  
  
Blue flowers in the sky. It was almost completely dark.  
  
"You had a question."  
  
… I did. Did it have any sort of real structure? I don't think that I would've been able to voice it, even if Gojyo hadn't interrupted us earlier.  
  
"I did."  
  
"Ah."  
  
That was one of the reasons I like Sanzo so much, y'know? He doesn't pry. He doesn't get sappy.   
  
And he remembers questions unasked from nearly six hours ago.  
  
"I walked into Gojyo's room last night." They were gone, sometime between the time Sanzo found the cold sweet and the time he sat down in the front of Jeep, they'd moved somewhere else. I couldn't see them anymore – I couldn't smell them, either.  
  
They'd been gone for a while.   
  
"You share a room with him."  
  
"It's not like – I mean, it was his room – " What was I trying to say – Last night, it wasn't mine and Gojyo's room, it was Gojyo's, because he and Hakkai –   
  
"I mean, did Hakkai switch places with me last night? Or, something – I mean – "  
  
Snort. "Idiot."  
  
"S-Sanzo, I don't think I can stay there anymore, y'know, with – "  
  
"Since when did idiots like you care about things like that?"  
  
"I – " I'm not an idiot, I wanted to say, but the second part of that question – the main part of that question – made me stop before I could say anything else.  
  
Since when did I care? This morning, yeah. Last night, of course. Four guys on a trip to nowhere for who knows how long – do things like that happen that way?  
  
"You're all idiots to me." Sanzo took a drag from his cigarette; I could see one hand still trying to wipe off the sticky stuff left behind by the treat he gave me. "Nothing's changed."  
  
Heh. 'Nothing's changed.' And that, self, is yet another reason why I like this guy. Even I can see he's an ass at times, but he's a wise ass.  
  
I said that right, right?  
  
"Heh, you're right, Sanzo." It seemed like the only thing to say to him, now. I mean, what else was there to say? Well –   
  
"Now shut up, before I kill you."  
  
A whole bunch of fireworks went off just then, and while Sanzo and I watched them light up the black sky, I thought about Gojyo and Hakkai, and how they tried to take things in stride since we started out this morning.   
  
I kinda feel bad, now that I think I've worried them. I guess I should apologize. Or something.   
  
Anyway, they're still the same, Gojyo and Hakkai. I mean, even if they're both guys, and Hakkai would end up doing everything for Gojyo – I mean, he does it already, but it just seems more oblige – obligatory's the word, yeah – and Gojyo likes to hang around the ladies a lot –   
  
Wait. So does this mean he won't go chasing girls anymore?  
  
"Hey, Sanzo, does this mean that Gojyo won't go chasing girls – "  
  
"Didn't I tell you to shut up?"  
  
"But I kinda gotta know – "  
  
"Dammit – " And here, he shoved another one of those cold pops into my hand. Was he sitting there eating them without me? In front of me? "Eat this, and shut up!" Then he had his back to me again, and we saw another set of glowing color.  
  
Agh. Whatever. Hakkai'll straighten him out, either way. And if he cheats on Hakkai, he'll answer to me. Nobody hurts a friend that way, not even another friend.  
  
Mmm, this stuff is good.  
  
[end]  
  



End file.
